DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z September 15, 2016
SMOKE: Pacific Northwest/California: Several fires were seen throughout the Pacific Northwest and California emitting light to moderate density smoke plumes primarily traveling to the south. Light density remnant smoke which originated from fires in California was seen across Central Valley California. Arkansas: An area of light density smoke emitted by agricultural/prescribed burns was seen over Arkansas moving west. DUST: Nevada: An area of blowing sand/dust was seen traveling to the southeast in northwestern Nevada. This area of blowing sand originated from the Black Rock Desert. Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean: Saharan dust is visible in between pockets of cloud cover moving west across the eastern and central Caribbean Sea as well as the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. UNKNOWN AEROSOL: A large amount of unknown aerosol is seen along the East Coast of the United States from North Carolina northeastward to coastal Maine and extending further northeast across Nova Scotia, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, and further across the North Atlantic. It is thought the aerosol is comprised mostly of sulfates. -Cronin THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE. TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/land/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov